Yellow poplar turning black

[blusteel7]

I cut a poplar sapling about a month ago and decided to try a hiking stick face on it recently. The stick cut OK but after a few days it started turning dark in the areas I had carved. It only sat in the garage for about a month so did I work on it to soon? It's just practice and no big loss but I wonder why it darkened so quickly.

[A_Swope]

A friend of mine gave me some weird growth off of the side of a tree. I've had it for about two years and just tried to carve it to see if it was soft and when I removed the bark it was dark and powder like might be the same problem. Does the wood sort of flake off in the dark spots as mine did?

[Eddy-Smiles]

Blusteel.... I gather my Tulip Poplar just north of you in East Tennessee and the only thing that I can think of is that you may not have skinned it down far enough before you started working on it. Generally, when I cut down a stick in May or June I find that the bark will skin off real easy but there will be a lot of slime on it which is understandable since the tree is in it's growth stage with it drawing moisture up into the leaves. I scrape off as much of the slime and remaining green bark as I can and then I set them out to dry outside in a covered area like and open porch so that they get plenty of air and a little sun. I find that anything under 2" in diameter will cure in 1-2 months and by being out in the open there is very little chance that they will mold. I also find that once cured there may be a few brown areas (like you expereinced) depending on how clean I got it but generally that occurs more when the stick is cut down and skinned in the Fall.

[papasar]

Same thing when I carved a piece of green mulberry. It turned black about a week later. It rubbed off and I assumed it was mold.
Bill K.

[blusteel7]

It was as Eddy said, peeled easily by hand and left a wet slimey residue on the wood. The bark came off about like peeling a banana. Sounds like it could be mold as the air circulation is pretty poor in a closed garage and I will age the next ones under the back porch. Thanks for the info.